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NEW BATAAN, 10 December 2012 (IRIN): Search teams in the southern Philippines continue to retrieve decaying (forrådnende) bodies days after Typhoon Bopha tore through the island of Mindanao’s agricultural areas.
Hundreds of thousands “desperately” need aid in the storm’s aftermath, according to relief workers on the ground.
In the hardest hit area of New Bataan Township, in Compostela Valley, entire villages were wiped out by a deadly slurry (flydende masse) of mud, rocks and timber that cascaded (rutchede) down the slopes minutes after Bopha made landfall on 4 December.
National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council chief Benito Ramos said on 10 December at least 647 people were killed. Another 780 remained missing.
Of the dead, more than 200 were unclaimed, perhaps because they were beyond recognition or because their relatives were among the dead as well, Ramos said.
Overwhelming damage
The typhoon slammed into the eastern coast of Mindanao Island – some 900 km south of the capital, Manila – triggering landslides in mountainous areas where decades of migration had seen entire communities settle in flood-prone (oversvømmelses udsatte) zones.
The storm’s gusts reached over 200 km an hour at its peak, making it the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year.
Ramos told IRIN that people had been forewarned about Bopha. Even so, more than five million people were caught in its path.
The typhoon reduced New Bataaan to a wasteland, overwhelming local government officials in an area once considered safe from powerful weather disturbances.
Now, more than 360.000 are staying in evacuation centres or with friends and relatives, according to the UN.
“We want to rebuild, but we have nothing to use,” said Narciso Magno, 40, a single father of four children, whose small farm of bananas and rice was completely destroyed.
“We are running low on food. There is no source of drinking water, except from broken pipes (rør) that are possibly contaminated… We need to start from the beginning, but we need money for seeds and fertilizers. But we do not have any money,” added he.
Immediate needs
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The United Nations and humanitarian partners Monday appealed for 65 million US dollar to provide immediate lifesaving aid and support in recovery to the millions affected by Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines, writes OCHA (FNs humanitære tjeneste) in a press release.
The Action Plan for Recovery outlines how the humanitarian community will deliver assistance to meet the priority needs of survivors, which according to assessments are emergency shelter, water and sanitation, food and livelihoods.
Typhoon Bopha, known locally as Pablo, cut across the Southern Philippines between 4 and 7 December, triggering flash floods and landslides, killing hundreds, devastating houses and crops and affecting the lives of millions of people. It is the strongest typhoon to hit the area in decades.
Humanitarian agencies immediately began helping the Government to respond by providing assistance as requested from existing stockpiles and carrying out joint rapid damage and needs assessments. On Friday 7 December, the Government of the Philippines declared a state of national calamity and accepted the offer of international assistance made by the Humanitarian Country Team.
The Action Plan for Recovery outlines a six month plan for response, to be provided by UN Agencies, international and local NGOs working alongside the Government.
The Plan will deliver urgently needed food, water and emergency shelter, and other urgent assistance to 480,000 seriously affected people in the worst hit areas. In the weeks and months to come, support will be provided to assist emotional as well as physical recovery, with particular attention to the needs of the most vulnerable.
In the longer term, the Plan focuses particularly on the need to rehabilitate the agriculture sector. Farmers in Mindanao, one of the poorest areas of the Philippines, have seen their crops devastated. In an area highly dependent on subsistence agriculture, thousands are now completely unable to provide for their families.
The Humanitarian Coordinator, Ms. Luiza Carvalho, who has visited the affected area, said the impact was ‘beyond imagination’ and people desperately needed help. “I have seen total devastation of villages. Neighborhoods are completely flattened and houses reduced to debris.
Entire communities, including pregnant women and children, have no shelter,” she said.
Speaking from Davao City in the affected area of Southern Mindanao, the Humanitarian Coordinator praised the response by the local Filipino people, authorities and NGOs.
“I am profoundly moved by the Filipino people and their determination to help each other during this time,” said Ms. Carvalho,noting:
“We pledge to work alongside them and the Government for as long as it takes to get everyone back on their feet.”
Yderligere oplysninger hos:
Jens Lærke, Spokesperson and
Public Information Officer, OCHA Geneva
tlf. +41 22 917 11 42
Mobil: +41 (0)79 472 97 50 og e-mail: [email protected]
